1. Technical Field
The embodiments herein generally relate to medical devices, and, more particularly, to tissue retraction devices and retraction devices for the spine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traditional surgical procedures for pathologies located within the body can cause significant trauma to the intervening tissues. These procedures often require a long incision, extensive muscle stripping, prolonged retraction of tissues, denervation, and devascularization of tissue. These procedures can require operating room time of several hours and several weeks of post-operative recovery time due to the destruction of tissue during the surgical procedure. In some cases, these invasive procedures lead to permanent scarring and pain that can be more severe than the pain leading to the surgical intervention.
The development of percutaneous procedures has yielded a major improvement in reducing recovery time and post-operative pain because minimal dissection of tissue, such as muscle tissue, is required. For example, minimally invasive surgical techniques are desirable for spinal and neurosurgical applications because of the need for access to locations within the body and the danger of damage to vital intervening tissues. While developments in minimally invasive surgery are steps in the right direction, there remains a need for further development in minimally invasive surgical instruments and methods. For example, conventional systems which employ minimally invasive surgical instruments are restricted to fewer than three degrees of freedom. Stated another way, conventional tissue retraction devices typically only allow precise adjustment of one articulated components before and/or during a surgical procedure. What is needed is a system that provides additional freedom to a surgeon before and/or during a surgical procedure by offering greater articulation and more degrees of freedom, which can be exploited by the surgeon under a controlled surgical environment.